When Hell Is Full
by ChosenNo
Summary: Death wants more death- and I run child-like with God's anger a step behind, back to simple sunlight, wondering as the world goes by with curled smile if anyone else saw or sensed my crime. -Charles Bukowski
1. PROLOGUE

**Summary:** Death wants more death- and I run child-like with God's anger a step behind, back to simple sunlight, wondering as the world goes by with curled smile if anyone else saw or sensed my crime. -Charles Bukowski. An all human (sort of) Bella/Edward story.

**A/N:** I'm just gonna jump right in, there will be a more explanatory A/N after the first chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**This is rated M for language, violence, and other stuff.**

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_PROLOGUE_

Looking back it all seems so silly, so trivial. I remember being worried about friends and homework, I remember being so anxious about my future. Future. It's not a word I hear much anymore. I remember being so stressed about grades about money about college all for this vague future I had ahead of me. Despite the haze of my own confusion my future had been in no way uncertain. I would work hard, save money and get loans, go to a good school, graduate and go on to get a good job and have a fulfilling life. It wouldn't have been exciting or unique but it would've been mine. And, goddamn, is excitement overrated.

It's a fucking joke how I used to stress over every insignificant little thing and now... well here we are. It's the future I suppose but it wasn't anywhere near close to my wildest dream. Hindsight is 20/20. It's such a strange thing to recall my priorities before. Before. I snort at my own thoughts as I sit on the roof of this enclosure of concrete and steel. I take one more drag and then glance down at my cigarette butt. Pinching it between my thumb and forefinger I flick it out and watch as the tiny ember spirals through the air landing somewhere in the chaos that lies beyond the fence.

Of course there's no point in thinking about that, no one saw it coming, nothing can be done about it now. I lift myself up and stare out for a moment before turning my back on the rising sun and walk towards the door to the stairs. I guess it catches me by surprise sometimes, that mere months ago I wouldn't have been able to comprehend the life I'm now living. There is no future anymore, no past, just survival, just one second at a time. Anything more than that is just wishful thinking. My hand reaches the cold steel knob and I turn it as the sun continues to rise once more, laughing to myself again.

"Who woulda thought the end of days would take so motherfucking long?"

* * *

Somewhere in the back of my head I can hear a dreadful beeping, I struggle to open my eyes so that I can silence that terribly annoying noise. My eyelids feel as though they've been sewn shut and I plan to reach my hand up to my face to find out exactly what the situation is but it too is sluggish. I begin to panic and try to move more of my limbs but it feels as though I'm in partially dried cement and even the slightest twitch is the result of a battle.

The beeping gets faster and I start to hear a muffled voice somewhere to my left, but it's too muddled to make out. I feel hands on my arm followed by a slight prick. The beeping continues it's pace for a few moments and suddenly everything is getting clearer my limbs seem to feel a bit freer, my eyelids start there ascent and the cotton muffling my hearing seems to dissolve and I am suddenly confronted by many things at once.

"Edward!" I hear my mother, Esme, screech excitedly from somewhere behind Carlisle's concerned face.

"Wha..." I start to question but my mouth feels like sand paper and I can't get it out, Carlisle looks confused for a moment before he rushes out of view and then back with a glass of water and straw in hand. I take a few sips and then clear my throat to speak

"What's going on?" My voice is rough but the question this time is clear.

"You were in a car accident Edward, you hit your head," Carlisle starts to explain but I cut him off

"Car accident? How long have I been out?" I struggle to recall what happened before I awoke here, like this. Carlisle looks at me with a strange mixture of pity and relief. Esme's tear filled face is suddenly by Carlisle's

"God Edward, it's been three months we thought... we thought," Her voice breaks off in a sob and Carlisle squeezes her shoulder and opens his mouth to continue

"All that matters is that you're awake now son..." his voice is full of emotion and he continues to speak but I can no longer hear what he's saying, my mind cannot get beyond my mother's words. Three Months? I've been in a coma for three months, it's too much to comprehend.

I'm brought out of my thoughts by my father's voice

"Edward? Edward?" He waves his hand in front of my gaping face.

"Three months?" I question

"Yes, just over 3 months today, but Edward..." He means to speak again but I silence him with my sudden outburst

"Where are we?" I look around the room, it doesn't look quite like a hospital other than the equipment my father obviously procured but it certainly isn't our house despite how oddly familiar it feels.

"Isle Esme," he breathes

"What are we doing here?" I suddenly recall the Island my family owns off of Maine

"That's what I've been trying to tell you Edward..." Carlisle pauses uncertainly looking to Esme for a moment before looking back to me "Something's happened..." he trails of seeming unsure of his words

"What? What's happened?" I begin to panic again, my mind overloads with all the new information

"We started hearing reports of some illness sweeping the nation and then things just started getting worse, people were rioting and looting, we thought it best to just take you here away from the chaos so you could heal without disturbance," Despite his explanation Carlise still seems to be holding back

"What aren't you telling me?" I question him and am more than a little frightened to see the grim look upon his face

"We lost communication..."

"Lost communication with who? When?" I struggle to sit up more but Carlisle puts a hand on my shoulder, effectively stopping my weak fight. He takes a deep breath and squeezes Esme's hand with the one that isn't restraining me.

"With everyone son, two months ago." There's a terrifying finality to his words and I have to take a deep breath before asking him again

"Wh.. What do you mean everyone?"

"A month after we got hear it sounded like things were only getting worse on the mainland and then suddenly the power cut, I was so worried about you that I got the generator running to keep the machines monitoring you working but by the time I tried to use my phone I found that nothing worked. No signal on any of our cell phones, no access to the internet, even the lan line went completely dead not even I dial tone," His breath comes out in a whoosh as he finishes "We haven't spoken to anybody in two months we have no idea whats happened out there but it does not appear to be anything good," His words seems so underwhelming in comparison to what they mean.

"We have to get back to shore! We have to find out what happened!" I shout "Where are Alice and Emmett?" I'm ashamed that this is the first I thought of my siblings

"Last we heard they were in Vermont with Jasper and Rosalie," Carlisle manages as Esme releases another sob.

"We have to find them," I state as I finally manage to sit up

"Normally I'd disagree with you," Carlisle starts "I'd say you need at least a few days to get a bit of your strength back but I'm afraid that really isn't an option anymore as we've run out of food and we're nearing the end of our fresh water," His voice sounds beaten

"When do we leave then?" I ask as I sway into the standing position and Carlisle holds me upright.

"As soon as you're ready son," We prepare to leave by boat in a blur planning to dock at the nearest shore. Carlisle and Esme load me into the motor boat and we start towards land. I feel a growing sense of dread as we near shore and my heart nearly stops in my chest when I first see land again. Smoke is rising from almost the entire visible coast and the smell of rot is thick in the air. We're nearing shore when I hear Esme's strained voice behind me.

"What in God's name has happened?"


	2. The Falconer

**Disclaimer:** I don't own shit

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_THE FALCONER_

The dread growing in my chest is in no way calmed by the eerie silence surrounding us as Carlisle docks our small boat. I rest against a telephone post, still feeling incredibly weak, and listen for signs of life but all I hear is the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore and the hollow whistle of the faint wind that blows around us. The smoke ahead of us completely obscures anything beyond the empty beach and the stench of decay is creating an overwhelming need to vomit deep in my empty gut.

"I'm not sure where we are but our best chances of finding out lie somewhere within that smoke," Carlisle's deep voice comes from behind me, startling me out of my reverie. "We should walk until we find the nearest town and find someone who can give us some idea what's happened," and with this statement he moves my arm around his shoulder and we begin to limp away from the beach towards what we can only assume is civilization.

We travel slowly and in continued silence, almost as if we are afraid to break the hush surrounding us. Due to my weakened state we break often and I'm beginning to feel as though we'll never get anywhere with me moving at this pace when five hours after the beginning of our trek we come across a car. The small red sedan is stopped at an awkward angle in the middle of the street and the driver's side door is left carelessly flung open. I turn and furrow my brow at Carlisle but he shakes his head and we continue down the road. Soon enough we come across another abandoned vehicle, and then another, and eventually the road is littered with them as if they were discarded soda cans. Finally we begin to see some small buildings in the haze ahead of us and I start to pick up my pace until I hear Esme gasp.

"Oh God!" she exclaims softly and I turn to see what has caught her attention. At first I see just another abandoned vehicle but I my eyes are quickly drawn to the dull red of dried blood smeared across the windshield. I clinically take in the reddish brown smears and the spider web like cracks in the glass before I notice that the blood stains are almost all in the form of handprints. I take a step forward to examine it further but Carlisle pulls me back.

"Let's just get to that store up ahead and find a phone so we can call the authorities," his voice is a higher pitch then usually and I'm struck by the terror I see in his eyes, an emotion I am sure is reflected in my own. We move towards the store again, slower than before, I'm beginning to worry that we won't find what we're looking here but something far worse. We enter what appears to be a hardware store and I'm immediately startled by the bell that chimes above us as the door opens.

"Hello," my father's voice echoes through the store, we pause waiting for a response

"Hello?," Carlisle calls again when he hears no reply. He's about to call again when we hear a shuffling in the rear of the store

"Hello? We need to use your phone, we need to know what's happened," Carlisle steps toward the noise and I feel an overpowering need to shush him and pull him back. This is not right, not right at all. I make to voice my opinions when we see a silhouetted figure stumble from behind an aisle.

"Did you hear me?" Carlisle calls again and the figure takes another shuffling step towards us, my heart is pounding in my chest and I know that we must leave now.

"Carlisle…" I start to warn but I'm cut off by a noise I've never heard before. A loud horrific gasping moan escapes the figure, it is inhuman and we all seem to take a step backwards as the creature howls. Suddenly everything seems to move slowly, I feel as though the entire scene we are in has suddenly been filled with a thick molasses and I'm rigid with fear as the thing takes more lurching steps towards us. In less than a second I feel a tug at the back of my collar but I can still see Carlisle and Esme frozen in the same fear as I. I'm thrown back a bit and I stumble against the store counter as a figure steps around me, I can barely process what is happening in front of me and I see the person that has just darted in front of me is carrying a baseball bat. I watch in complete horror, hearing nothing but Esme's scream as the person slams the bat against the skull of the moaning creature, it sways but doesn't drop immediately, it isn't until the second blow which shatters the things skull sending a reddish dust flying through the air that the creature crumbles to the ground.

Esme is still screaming until the person spins around, and I'm stunned to see the face of a young girl looking back at us, she's mostly hidden by a black sweatshirt and hood.

"Shut up!" she shushes Esme before turning back towards where the creature came from, I'm still frozen still not sure if she is our unlikely savior or another howling monster. Her back is still turned to us and it looks like she's listening for something, before she turns around again.

"What the hell are you people doing out here screaming bloody murder?" she demands in hushed tone

"We're looking for help, trying to reach the police, do you know where…" Carlisle starts but the girl cuts him off suddenly

"The Police!" she exclaims quietly "Are you people dense? Have you been living under a rock?" it sounds as though she's straining to keep her voice quiet. I'm shocked when Esme is the next to speak.

"Actually we've been on an island and my son," Esme motions towards me "has been in a coma until 8 hours ago so excuse us if we're a little confused!" she huffs and for a moment I'm so shocked by my mother's outburst that I don't notice the smile spread across the girls face.

"Coma?" there's laughter in her voice as she pulls the hood off of her head, and I'm suddenly struck by the beauty of her face. Her dark hair is pulled back from her heart shape face with only some of it escaping in wild tendrils, she has dark brown eyes, but my eyes are immediately drawn to the long scar that runs across her lips down her chin and neck and disappears beneath her sweatshirt. I'm snapped out of my reverie by her laughing voice "Coma? Really?" I nod dumbly at her and she swings her bloodied baseball bat so it's now resting atop her shoulder.

"Well I've got one rude motherfucking awakening for you buddy!" She laughs and I almost do to when I see Esme bristle at the girl's language despite the fact that she just smashed that things skull in front of us.

"What's happened?" I ask her directly. She laughs again before clearing her throat as if she's is struggling to take my query seriously.

"Well hate to break it to you buddy but you managed to sleep through the goddamn apocalypse!"

* * *

**A/N:**I've had this idea kicking around for awhile so I figured I'd go for it and see if it caught anyone'sinterest. This story is going to be Twilight characters trying to survive during the zombie apocalypse. Obviously I do not own Twilight or any of those characters but I would also like to mention that I do not own The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, Day by Day Armageddon, or The Walking Dead series all of which I'm borrowing from. I'm going to keep my A/Ns to a minimum because I ain't got shit to say but if you have any questions about this story just let me know and I'll answer them! Also the chapter names are titles of songs I listened to while writing (hint:prologue isn't one of them).


	3. The Frail

Disclaimer: Still don't own nothin!

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_THE FRAIL_

Judgment Day. End of the world. Day of Reckoning. Apocalypse. These words are flying through my head with the force of gun, leaving me running in circles. And suddenly I'm sucked into the first memory surrounding the crash since I awoke.

The roads are wet, I fumble with the radio trying to find anything that resembles music, I come to a stop at a red light and give up on the radio leaning my head against the window in exasperation. And then I see him just another crazy man on the street but he's holding a sign it says…

"The End is Nigh" I whisper out loud to no one in particular.

"No, see you're not listening" she shakes a disapproving finger at me though the smile is still present on her face "The End is no longer nigh," her smile turns a bit grim "The End is more like a couple hundred thousand corpses back," she motions wildly before taking a calming breath and looking back at me smile almost completely faded, "You missed the End of the World, you're just catching the tail end, joining the ranks of the few, the proud, the still fucking alive," She pauses

"But if the world ended how are we still here, what do we do?" Carlisle, always a scientist first, "What happened?" He sounds frustrated, just like I am waiting for a straight answer to that goddamn question, but I doubt there's a straight forward way to answer these questions.

"You wanna know what happened? How much do you already know?" She paused, pulling her sleeve up so she could look at her watch.

"We know there was some strange virus that led to rioting and looting and then…" Carlisle paused

"Then we got out of dodge," Esme finished for him

"Well lucky you!" The girl exclaimed, before looking at her watch again

"Do you have some where to be?" Esme asked in a less then polite tone

"Yeah, actually we all have some where to be if you were hoping to live any longer," She paused

"Why what's happening? Is there another one of those things?" I stutter fear getting the best of me

"Well, right now, right here, there is only this fuck that I'm aware of but based on the amount of screaming that was going on there's about to be a whole lot more,"

"What do we do?" Carlisle's voice is wavering

"We pack up anything we can find of use in these few stores right here and then we… get outta dodge," she turned to grin at Esme who seemed a bit disturbed by the whole interaction.

"Ok, I'm gonna do a quick run through of the protocol here for you newbies but I expect you to learn and move fast, clear?" And Suddenly this girl who must be younger than me has become our drill sergeant and shockingly we all comply. I think we're beginning to understand that our survival depends on her.

"So just to put a rewind on the awkward I'm Bella… and you are…."

"Carlisle, this my wife Esme, and our son Edward"

"Alright first things first I need to know if any of you are injured in any way, even if it's just a tiny scrape I need to know and I need to know now." There's no humor in her voice now, and her eyes, filled with determination, are glancing at each of us, looking for injuries.

"No we're all in fine health, my son is just a little weak as he's still recovering, I'm a doctor so I assure you that is all,"

"Good to know Doc, but just remember I'm calling the shots until we're outta here safe if you stop to help a wounded puppy on the side of the road you are getting left behind," Carlisle nodded curtly

"Ok here's the list I have an extra bag here," she hands a large backpack to Carlisle "you are going to fill it with any weapons, medical supplies, and non perishable food."

"Weapons?" Esme's voice is straining again

"Yes, guns, bullets, baseball bats, crow bars, any long blade preferably in the machete family," Bella is already searching for the items as she gives Esme the directive. "AHA!" Bella laughs

"What?" I look up from my search startled

"I just found exactly what I came here for," she's grinning like an idiot as she lifts the large machete so I can see it

We continue our search until there's a faint moan outside

"Alright people that's it, now do you each have a weapon?" we nodded all holding crow bars, looking confused and scared "Don't worry those are just for emergencies I'll take care of you until you know a little bit more. All you need to know is hit them in the head, hard, destroy the brain destroy the body," She looked us over for a second

"Okay, Edward?" I nod "I'm gonna carry Edward because I need anybody who can be on full alert, if something comes up I'm gonna toss him back to you but we've only got to get out of this town before we can relax a bit. Everybody follow my lead and don't do anything stupid!" With that she suddenly had me hoisted up by her side and we were exiting the hardware store. She kept a pretty brisk pace, looking over her shoulder as she carried me. I heard moaning ahead of us and Bella froze instantly

"Carlisle" she whispered and he was there in an instant to hold me up, if there was ever I time to be a completely useless burden now was not it and I was worried that I would get us all into something so bad I couldn't even comprehend it. She stepped away from us and towards a now visible figure, the lack of light in the store had shielded us from these monstrosities. The woman that stumbled towards Bella looked like she may have been young but her clothes were mostly ripped off giving us a better view of the damage she had taken. She was covered in dry blood and clearly had severe wounds to her neck and shoulders, although her skin was deathly pale most of it had taken on a green tinge and the areas around the wounds were completely black. Her hair was mostly gone, and with pieces of her scalp missing, portions of her skull were visible. Her eyes were a milky white though parts seemed to be decomposing, most of her lips had been torn off revealing a hideous un stoppable grin with pieces of flesh hanging from her teeth. As she lunged for bella I have never been so afraid in my life, I made a move to go forward and help but Carlisle held me steady against him.

Bella pulled her newly acquired machete from her boot and as the thing lunged at her she brought the blade down at the top of it's skull. Bella motioned for us to come forward as she placed her booted foot on the creatures shoulder and tugged the blade out of its skull. Wiping the sticky remnants from the machete on her pant leg before shoving it back into her boot Bella motioned for me and she carried me once more. I heard moan behind me but Bella kept me facing forward.

"We can't fight all of them, better to have them behind us then in front making obstacles of themselves" She whispers in my ear. I trust her despite the growing fear I feel every time a new moan joins the group behind us. We hurry and soon we're at the top of a small hill, Bella sets me down and I am offered a view of the town we only briefly visited filled with those things. There are at least two dozen slowly ambling their way toward us. Bella instructs us all to sit for a moment and I can't imagine how she plans to outrun them if we stop now.

I watch her as she reaches into her overstuffed bag, she's crouched down and I can't see what she's doing but based on those things approaching I hope it's good. Suddenly she's standing holding two bottles in her hands with more on the ground by her feet. They have cloth sticking through the mouthpiece and I'm trying to figure out what she's doing when she looks towards me and smiles.

"Wanna see something fun?" She asks me but before I have time to answer she's holding a lighter up to one of the cloths, once it's lit she waits a moment before chucking it at the oncoming creatures. It explodes in flames on contact and while the things don't even seem to notice they're lighting up better than the sky on fourth of July. She throws another and another until all we can see is a mass of writhing bodies engulfed in flames.

"What are those things?" My voice is shaking as I ask the question I'm not sure I want an answer to

"Ahh, those my new friends are the living dead," she states so calmly it takes me a second to process what she's said

"Zombies?" My voice is shaking worse than before, she puts one finger on her nose and points the other at me _Bingo_

"Surely you don't expect us to believe…" Esme starts but Bella cuts her off again

"Believe me or not I'm telling you what I know," Bella reaches into her bag and pulls out a pack of cigarettes shimmying one from the pack and placing it in her mouth, she stops and offers the pack to my family but we all refuse with a shake of the head. She lifts her lighter to the cigarette and takes a long pull before breathing out and continuing. "See, that's what you folks missed when you were off on mystery island. The rioting, the violence, they weren't because the strain of an epidemic caused some breakdown in our government or society, they were a direct result of the infected."

"What happened?" I feel like I've asked this question a thousand times since I awoke

"The virus started making the news about three months ago as I'm sure you two are aware of," She nods towards Carlisle and Esme taking another drag "But it wasn't until about a month later that the truth started coming out, I found out the way most people did." She pauses again as if collecting her thoughts

"How?" I urge her to continue

"Well shit was really starting to hit the fan, people were terrified, and no one would tell us what was going on. All anyone knew was there was this strange virus and they began asking people to report anybody that might be infected. They were evacuating the town I lived in when I saw my first zombie, there were cars clogging every street so everyone just started getting out and walking. It was this mass exodus, people leaving their homes, their cars, without really knowing where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do. We were walking and I started hearing screaming up ahead, I couldn't see anything all I knew was that suddenly there were hundreds of people all running, pushing, struggling, to go back the way we came. I climbed on top of one of the abandoned cars to see what was happening and I was greeted with the lovely sight of hundreds of those things rushing the people that had been at the head of the line. I couldn't really understand what was happening, I didn't understand why these people were suddenly attacking each other, and then I saw what they were doing." She pauses again stubbing out her cigarette

"They were biting the people who were struggling to get away. Clawing at them, ripping at them with their teeth, when one guy would go down those things would swarm him, tear him limb from limb. They were eating those people. It didn't take long for people to start reacting, pulling out guns, firing at the things. That's when I realized we were screwed. People were shooting these things and it wasn't even slowing them down, it was like they didn't notice, they just kept coming at us. I remember I saw one that had it's lower body completely severed, guts all spilling out and dragging behind it, and it was just pulling itself forward with it's arms like nothing was wrong. Someone finally got a head shot into one of them and it dropped like a sack of potatoes, that's when I realized what they were." She stopped and started swinging her pack back on, we all stayed still, silent, her story sinking in.

"What do we do now?" Carlisle asked, sounding defeated

"Well, I left my truck about 3 hours that way," she motioned towards the wooded area behind us

"Your truck?" I repeat beginning to feel a bit like a parrot

"Yeah, and it's about a days drive back to the compound we've got set up, so if you don't mind I'll answer your questions while we mosey,"

"Of course," Carlisle spoke, lifting his pack and helping me to my feet "What exactly is this compound? Is it safe from those things?" he asked as we began to walk again.

"It's a prison, and it's safe enough. Far enough off the beaten path that we're not on anybody's route, and it was a maximum security facility so it's pretty sturdy,"

"What happened to the prisoners?" Carlisle questions

"Well, like most people when it first hit they didn't realize a good thing when they had it. I mean they were all locked away, quarantined, with enough food to last them a good while. But one of the guards must have become infected because when we got there all we found were cells full of those living corpses. We worked our way through each section of the place, killing them as we went, and we burned the bodies just outside the yard."

"Oh," was all he could manage at first "How many survivors are living there?"

"About seventy, but lucky for us there was enough food there to last a thousand prisoners a few years, and the generator and the water pump still work great," she paused thoughtfully for a moment "There's a few things I'm gonna need you folks to know if I'm gonna keep our little compound safe," we all nodded in understanding "As of right now you folks are not allowed to do anything without asking me first. You still don't really have handle on whats going on and the last thing I need is you taking our nice little home and throwing it to the corpses. The next thing is when we get back my crew is gonna have to check you all for bites, "

" But we told you we're not injured," Carlisle urged

"I don't care what you said Doc, it's nothing personal but a bite means infection and from what I've seen people who know their time is limited get pretty desperate, they don't think about whats best for the rest of us. I've also seen quite a few people who've completely convinced themselves that they're not gonna turn, and let me tell you, they are always wrong."

"What do you mean one bite, what happens to someone once they're bitten,"

"Well, Doc, once you've been bitten you've got about twenty four hours max before you turn into one of them. There's no vaccine, no way to stop it, or slow it down, and so far the only cure we've found is a bullet to the brain. Once you've been bitten the only thing to do is shoot yourself, in the head, so that one of us doesn't end up having to do it," she's speaking so matter o' factly about the whole process that my head is spinning, but Carlisle somehow continues on his line of questioning.

"What do you do when it's revealed someone's been bitten?"

"Well, that can go a few ways. Anybody with a wound discovered that could be a bite or could be contaminated leading to infection gets put into quarantine. If it is a bite we give them two options, we can give them a gun and one bullet and let them out the gates or we can wait till they turn and end it for them. And any suspicious wound leads to a 48 hour quarantine, if they turn we kill them, if they don't they're free to go about their business."

"I see," he spoke carefully

"Another thing, I need you to keep as quiet as possible until we get to the truck. They can hear just as good as we can and they'll follow any noise for miles on end. They don't get tired, they don't need to rest, hell as far as we've been able to tell they don't even need to eat, they just do." She paused as we reached the edge of the trees "If you hear anything once we're in there you just stay close to me and wait for my command, zombies aren't the only thing you have to worry about."

"What do you mean," I questioned as she handed me a bottle of water

"Well as a general rule, do not trust anyone you meet, I don't care if there living or dead," She spoke sharply as I took a sip

"What about you? We are trusting you," Panic was creeping back into Esme's tone

"Yeah well you don't have much of a choice do you?" She shrugged "You're lucky I'm the only one who found you. Let's just say some people have reverted back to less civilized practices. Something about the dead rising tends to bring out the worst in people," there was mocking in her tone but I could see a fierceness in her eyes that told me she'd seen plenty of horrors and not all at the hands of the living dead.

"So a quick review," she gently clapped her hands together a smirk returning to her face "Shut up, follow my lead, and if you have to always go straight for the head. Let's head out,"

We walked through the forest in silence, I could barely breath I was so intent on listening for the shuffle of the undead. When they weren't scanning the forest surrounding us my eyes were trained on Bella. She moved swiftly and almost silently through the woods, only the gentle crunch of dead leaves beneath her feet . After several hours we reached a clearing and Bella singnalled for us to halt.

"Wait here, I'm just gonna run up a head and make sure the area is clear," with that she jogged further into the clearing and we followed our orders and stayed put. "Okay, the truck is clear but the sun is going to set soon and I need to be able to see any obstacles well in advance so we're gonna set up camp for the night," she began walking again and we followed

"Is it safe to camp in the open like this?" I spoke softly

"Not on the ground but lucky for us we won't have to," just as she spoke we rounded the last set of trees and were greeted by the sight of a large military like truck parked next a tower of sorts.

"What's that?" I pointed to the structure beside the truck

"It's a fire tower, usually meant for spotting forest fires but I think it will work as I nice tree blind for the night, zombies can't climb ladders, I think the muscle detiorates to fast all they ever do is grab at them," she smiled "This way we have a safe place to sleep and we can get the lay of the land at dawn, spot any approaching hordes," She walked forward and unbuttoned the canvas covering the bed of the large truck, reaching in she pulled out a few packs that looked like sleeping bags and handed them off to each of us.

It took me longer than I would like to admit to climb the 50 foot ladder to the top of the fire tower but I was relieved by the safety it would provide. The top of the tower was a bit like an old tree fort I had in my back yard when I was a kid some. Wooden walls and a roof covered us and it had an open doorway. There wasn't much space inside but I was thankful for anything I could get. It was strange how quickly may needs had changed, the last thing I remembered before waking up was being peeved at the music on the radio, now I was just happy to be alive. The front of the tower had a small open area a bit like a porch and while Carlisle and Esme set up their sleeping bags I came out and sat down beside Bella who had her legs dangling over the edge of the platform and a cigarette in her mouth.

"You shouldn't smoke," I stated without realizing my own stupidity, she laughed and patted my knee

"Edward you are so right, what with the hordes of undead trying to get a bite out of me I should really worry about cancer!" I smiled at her as she mocked me "All I know is in times like these anything that helps is good, and I'll be happy if I know I won't taste to good going down when those fuckers finally get me," her face turned serious for a moment "Maybe the cigarettes will make them choke on my guts," the smile returned to her face despite the disturbing nature of her diatribe

"How old are you?" I blurted out, a bit embarrassingly, but I was so curious she looked so young but she sometimes acted like a grisled war veteran.

"Twenty," she spoke softly "What about you?"

"Twenty-two," I said quietly still shocked by her conflicting age and demeanor "You seem much older than that," I said honestly

"Yeah well in times like these it doesn't pay to be youthful and immature, I know a ten year old whose got perfect aim with a pistol, he'd never touched a gun before all of this." Her voice sounded far off as she spoke.

"God, I still can't wrap my head around all of this, how does it happen? How is it that the dead are walking about right now?" I grasped the edge of the platform as I spoke

"Someone once told me that it was punishment for the sins of humanity, that the world had gotten so rotten and awful that this was the only solution. _When there is no more room in hell the dead will walk the earth._" She quoted "I'm not sure if I believe that but then again I'm really not sure what to believe anymore." She spoke softly staring out as the sun slipped beneath the horizon. "You should get some rest Edward, we've got a long day ahead of us," I planned to protest but her words were so final that I couldn't, so I simply squeezed her hand with my own before going inside.

After that I laid for a while unable to rest, I would look through the doorway once in a while to see Bella seated in the same position, I wondered if she planned to sleep. I kept thinking about what she'd said before. Was it true? Was human race so polluted and wrong that we were now being punished by having to live among the dead? Or were those who wandered somewhere beneath where I lay now being forsaken to wander the earth for eternity, never resting, feasting on the flesh of the living. Never finding peace.

I couldn't get those words out of my head no matter how hard I tried; I could still hear Bella's hauntingly sad voice repeat them over and over

_When there is no more room in hell the dead will walk the earth._


	4. Hard Travelin'

**A/N:** Ok folks this is the next chapter but I have a few things I probably should have cleared up already.

1. There are no vampires in this story. The only supernatural stuff here are zombies.

2. I changed the location of Isle Esme so that it would be off the coast of Maine. I couldn't think of a reason Bella would be in Rio (where SM's Isle Esme was) and I couldn't really have them make a trip from Rio to Maine all in a shitty little motor boat.

3. Like I said I've borrowed some of my ideas not only from Twilight but also a bunch of zombie stuff that I listed previously, although some huge ones that I forgot to mention are George Romero's Zombie series and 28 Days Later (Edward's coma wasn't an original idea but it's a fun one!) so I wanted to make sure I mentioned those before I continued.

I also wanted to thank Scryer59 for my first review on this story! Hope you like this chap!

* * *

**Hard Travelin'**

I awoke sometime before dawn to the sound of hushed voices; I sat up suddenly, disoriented, before my mind processed all I had learned in the previous day. I suppose for most people this world was at least three months in the making but I had woken up with my last memory being nothing out of the ordinary to find the world had changed so much it was now unrecognizable. I swept my gaze across the surrounding area, terrified to find that I would awake again to find that the previous day wasn't just a nightmare. I was almost more scared that I would awake to find that the world would have mysteriously morphed again revealing more horrors.

"Listen I don't care if he's got a railroad spike through his fucking head we've got to leave and we've got to leave now!" I heard Bella whisper heatedly, "I've put it off as long as I can but they're just past the tree line now and if we don't get down to that truck and soon we're all gonna be zombie chow!"

"What's all this about?" I question my voice laden with sleep

"There's a horde approaching," Bella's clear voice responds, "There's not many of them, maybe only twenty but we can't risk it especially with you all unable to protect yourselves or fight properly. We have to leave now," I pause to take in her words

"So let's go," I state as calmly as I can while who knows how many of those things creep up on us. Within minutes we've packed up what little gear we've got and Bella pulls on a pair of leather gloves and is the first to descend the ladder, she's got her machete strapped to her back, ready for quick use. I peer out at the surrounding land searching for the undead with only faint pinkish glow lighting the area as the sun has yet to make it's appearance over the horizon. I watch a bit frightened as Bella puts her feet aside and slides down the entire ladder, landing agilely on her feet.

"Okay, you guys get down here but don't go to fast and risk hurting yourselves," she shouts up at us, and we follow her orders. I'm the last to descend the ladder and by the time my feet touch the ground I can hear the moaning that has so quickly become a telltale sign of death.

"Throw your stuff in the truck and start it for me," Bella says over her shoulder and throws the keys to me, I catch them and hobble over to the behemoth of a vehicle. Once I've got the truck started and Carlisle and Esme are seated beside me I look out the window for Bella and watch in horror as I catch sight of her running away from the approaching group. I notice that some of them are covered in singed flesh and I cover my nose to avoid catching the scent. Were some of these the same monsters that Bella fire bombed yesterday? Had they survived even that? My thoughts are cut off by Bella jumping into the driver's seat and slamming the door behind her.

Within seconds the large vehicle lurches forward and soon we are going at a pretty good speed across the field. Ahead I see what appears to be a dirt road and once we reach it Bella turns the wheel hard and we're on the road.

"How far is the compound?" I gasp out

"Not far only a few hours drive," she responds shortly

"The radio!" Carlisle exclaims suddenly "Is there any public service information?"

"There are a few government directives, fairly outdated," She takes a deep breath and Carlisle turns the radio on and begins flipping through the stations, pausing finally when he finds one that works

"_This is a Public Service Announcement. Please listen to the following message for important information. The state has set up 3 emergency stations to help and protect the public during this devastating crisis. The first station is in Hamden County off of Route 20 A and is for treatment of people who believe themselves to be infected, if you believe that you or a loved one is infected please bring them to ES 1 in Hamden county for treatment. The second station and third station are for uninfected people that have been evacuated and they are in Franklin County at 125 reservation rd in Crystal Springs. Please report to these stations immediately for effective treatment and emergency services…"_

The announcement began to repeat as Carlisle turned to Bella

"Have you been to these emergency stations, is it true do they have an effective treatment?" His speech is hurried and a bit hopeful

"Yes we've been to them. ES1 was a massacre, they found a treatment but it was the same as ours," she forms her thumb and forefinger into a gun shape and holds it to her temple "They were rounding up injured and sick people, from what I understand some of them were in no risk of infection. People with colds, broken limbs, elderly went to ES1 in search of medical care and ended up in a death camp," Her expression is grim as she ruefully shakes her head. "ES2 and 3 were mostly abandoned when we got to them, we managed to pick up about twenty stragglers who had been making their way slowly toward the stations. Based on what we've seen and heard from the few people who escaped ES1 and the people who were at ES2 and 3 when they were running anyone who missed that bandwagon should count themselves lucky," Her expression is blank now staring ahead at the road numbly

"What happened at ES2 and 3?" I ask, scared of what her answer will be

"At the compound there are two families who saw them up and running and one man who was there from the beginning," she pauses taking a calming breath "From what I understand the stations were created when the government was still operational and the intentions were good but once that all fell apart it was just confused soldiers with no orders running those camps. The people that made it there wanted to know what the next step was, where they were going, what was going to happen to their homes, what was going to happen to their lives really. The soldiers didn't have any answers. Their advisors had never let them in on the next part of the plan and all communication was lost as was any hope of government intervention. The camps devolved. There was lots of violence, rape, murder, the people we met left once the soldiers started taking turns with the women at the camp and beating or killing those who tried to stop them."

"Oh god," Esme gasps as her hand flies up to cover her mouth in horror. Bella smiles sadly at her before turning her eyes back to the road. We are engulfed in silence for a moment.

"How did you get that scar?" it's out of my mouth before I can stop it, and her expression becomes blank again

"Like I said," Bella starts again "Word to the wise; don't trust anyone. In a world like this sometimes it's hard to tell the living apart from those monsters. The undead could never dream of the atrocities that happen in some of the survivor settlements," I watch her face contort into a grimace somewhere between anger and disgust before it relaxes again into a blank mask. We are silent for a few hours after that, and I manage to fall asleep only waking up when Bella shakes my shoulder roughly.

"Wake up, I need you all to stand watch," she says to me

"Stand watch for what?" I ask as I rub the sleep from my eyes. In a coma for three months and I'm still exhausted.

"We're running a little low on gas I'm gonna need to siphon some from one of those," she nods her head forwards and I notice we're no longer on a dirt road but pulled up on the shoulder of a small highway. There are abandoned vehicles taking up almost every square inch of the road many of them up on the shoulder like ours is. In the distance in a field alongside the highway, I see some cars that seemed the result of unsuccessful attempts at off roading. I shake the sleep from my mind and move to get out of the cab as Bella appears once again in front of me holding a baseball bat, she hands it to me.

"What about a gun?" I ask confused as to why she keeps using this more primitive form of weaponry when she's obviously got access to better artillery.

"Have you ever fired a gun?" I shake my head no "That's what I thought, guns are only for people who know how to use them and only in an emergency," she scolds

"This isn't an emergency?" I ask

"Are you listening? Remember what I said? These things can hear pretty well and a gunshot is about as loud as it gets, even if you manage to get a head shot in you've killed one zombie and attracted the notice of who knows how many hundreds more," I'm still standing there dumbly when she grabs her machete and starts stalking towards the rear of the truck. She comes back with her machete strapped to her back again and she's carrying a gas can and length of tube.

"I'm gonna go get some gas if you hear or see anything just give me a holler," and then she's walking away from me again, I feel a lump form in my throat as she gets further from the truck. I feel the need to reach out and stop her but I quickly quell the urge. I feel ridiculous having these protective urges for someone who is obviously much more capable than I am, she's the only reason we're alive right now.

I'm standing there nervously watching Bella weave her way in between the many cars and as she kneels down next to one I lose sight of her and my anxiety increases tenfold. Carlisle notices my stiff posture and puts his hand on my shoulder

"She knows what she's doing son," his attempt to reassure me is completely useless and I keep my eyes trained on the cars Bella is crouched beside. I'm watching it carefully when I spot movement inside of the car behind her and despite the fear that keeps me frozen in place I manage to shout

"Bella!" my voice is strained and I see Bella's confused face pop up from the other side of the vehicle "Inside the car!" I scream, my voice ragged with fear. I watch in horror as she spins around. Her eyes move from my face to the vehicle just as the thing bursts from the car hitting her with the door as it pounces. As she falls I lose sight of her again and I start to rush forward as I hear a thump. I'm moving as fast as I can on my weak legs but just as I reach the car I see Bella slide up against the vehicle clutching her arm and her previous words shoot through my head

_Once you've been bitten you've got about twenty four hours max before you turn into one of them. There's no vaccine, no way to stop it, or slow it down, and so far the only cure we've found is a bullet to the brain_

I feel my stomach lurch as I reach her and her face snaps up to meet mine hardened with determination but it softens when she sees it's me

"Are you ok? Were you bitten?" My words come out in a rush as I stand in front of her inspecting her for wounds, but she shakes her head nonchalantly

"Nope, good eye by the way I can't believe I missed that thing," she pauses removing her hand from her arm and I wince as blood starts rushing down her arm "He smacked me something good with that door though, slammed me against the other car too," I look towards the car and I see the creature hanging half way out the car with Bella's machete stuck in his skull "He got stuck on the seatbelt," she smirks as she motions to wear the belt is cutting deep into parts of it's rotting flesh. "He's probably been stuck in here since it started,"

"Your arm is still bleeding, did you hit your head when you fell?" my voice is still frantic despite the reassurance that she isn't infected

"Calm down," she speaks softly and my eyes are drawn from the wound on her arm to her eyes "I'm fine, and I've got enough gas now so let's get back to the truck," she reaches down to grab the now full gas can with her uninjured arm and starts walking back to the truck. When we reach Esme and Carlisle they are both staring worriedly.

"She's hurt," I start but Bella's cut me off before I can start

"It's nothing, just a cut and a little bump on my head I'll deal with it if one of you will gas up the truck," she says in a sure voice

"I can take a look at your injuries if you like," Carlisle says softly

"I appreciate the offer Doc but until we get back to the compound we won't have any useful medical supplies anyway," He nods and takes the gas can from Bella and moves to fuel it up as Bella walks towards the rear of the truck, I follow as she pulls a small pack out of the back. She takes a few things out of the bag and I watch as she begins to disinfect the wound.

"You'll need stitches," I say quietly

"Well we don't have a suture kit with us and I've got something just as good," she smirks as she pulls a bottle of crazy glue out of her bag.

"Are you serious?" my voice is incredulous

"It works just as well in a pinch," she smiles again and I watch with doubtful eyes as she squeezes some into the 5 inch gash running down her arm and smoothes it down within the wound. "You worry too much Edward," she smirks at me as she puts her kit away "You've gotta trust me, I've had much worse than this," despite the grim meaning of her words the smile is still in place. I reach my hand forward to brush the hair away from her forehead where a large bruise is blossoming underneath her pale skin. She shakes my hand away, scolding me with a single look.

"All done," we hear Carlisle call from the other side of the truck

"Let's roll," she announces as she takes the can from Carlisle and places it in the bed of the truck, "We've only got a few more hours to the compound," Once we're all settled in the truck and Bella is backing up off the shoulder Carlisle brings up the question we've all been worrying

"Bella," he starts unsure of how to ask this question, unsure of whether he'll want an answer. "Before this all happened much of our family was staying in Vermont, not far from here.

"Where were they in Vermont?" her voice is calm still

"They were camping near Brattleboro,"

"Names?" Bella said quickly her expression calculating

"Our son Emmett and his wife Rosalie and our daughter Alice and her husband Jasper," Carlisle breathed out, we all sat stock still. Half of me wanted recognition to light up across Bella's face and the other part was fairly certain that if she had any news it would more likely be bad then good.

"I don't think anybody at our camp goes by those names but we haven't travelled very far into Vermont before," she said with certainty

"After we've had time to recover at your compound we'd like to look for them," Carlisle paused, worried what her response would be.

"I'll see what I can do," was all she said before turning her eyes back to the road ahead.

After what felt like an eternity of silence Bella spoke again.

"Can one of you open the glove compartment and hand me the walkie that's in it?" she said as she let the truck slow to a roll. Esme did as she asked and Bella stopped the truck, flipped a switch on the walkie and it crackled to life as she lifted it towards her mouth.

"Phoenix this is Swan, any one there? Over" her voice commanding, before her finger released the button as she waited for a response.

"Phoenix?" I questioned but she held up her hand to silence me as a static laced voice came back through the speaker

"_Swan this is Black, what took you so long? Over"_

"I picked up a couple hitchhikers on my way back. Over" she smirked at us as she spoke

"_Oh Swan, you're always a sucker for strays, I'll have the gate open and snipers out in 10. We've been having some problems with nomads by the outer gates so watch out. Over." _The crackling voice responded.

"Alright Black, I'll be there in 10. Over and out." Bella put the walkie down on the seat, leaving it on to crackle in between us. "Alright Cullens here's the deal; we're gonna go through the front gate, once I've parked the truck you'll follow me through decontamination and then I'll show you around." She spoke, a smile still present on her face. We nodded as she got the truck rolling again.

I watched out the window, waiting for the compound to appear, we drove up a hill and as we reached the peak I saw it ahead. As we began rolling down the hill I saw the prison, it was a large cement fortress, guard towers peaked above the large stone walls that surrounded it, as we approached I saw a large chain link fence covered in razor wire with a few struggling zombies caught in it. Once we were almost to it the fence began sliding back leaving an opening for the truck to enter. As we rolled in I looked around, there was about a hundred feet of empty space in between the stone wall and chain link gate and another large chain link fence. On the other side of the fence I could see the large building that would soon be our safe haven. Bella parked the truck and stepped out, we followed and I turned to see the chain gate closing behind us.

"Follow me," she said in a voice that was all business. As we followed her towards the inner fence I saw a tall russet skinned man approaching the other side of it.

"Bella!" he bellowed, he opened a door in the fence and motioned for us to enter.

"Hey Jake, I've got some newbies," she smiled "Jake this is Carlisle, Esme, and Edward," she waved her hand in between us "Guys this is Jake our resident gear head, he's the only reason we got that truck up and running,"

"Nice to meet you guys, where were you holding out before Swan found you?" he smiled at us as he shook our hands with gusto.

"We were on a small island off the coast of Maine," Carlisle offered as Jake shook his hand.

"You'll never believe this one Jake," Bella smirked "They had no idea what was going on here on the mainland until I found them yesterday," Jake looked at her quizzically "And Edward here," she said as she put her hand on my shoulder "Has been in a coma for three months, he woke up to find that the dead had risen and he'd missed the whole thing!" Bella laughed.

"You're shitting me right?" Jake asked incredulously but Bella shook her head "Holy Hell! That must've been some fun news to wake up to!" Jake guffawed and patted me roughly on the back "Welcome to the new world buddy!" He smirked before he and Bella began ushering us forward.

"I'm gonna go through decon with these guys and then show them around their new digs, I'll see you inside Jake," Bella spoke as we approached two doors in the cement walls.

"Alright Bells, I'll see you all on the other side," Jake smiled as he walked past us and through the door to our left before shutting it tightly behind him. Bella began to open the door to our right but paused once she had opened it half way.

"I want to apologize but once we're inside you're going to have to follow all of our decon team's orders. They're gonna ask you to strip and they'll have to inspect you for bites. I know it's embarrassing but it's the only way we can ensure you don't have any bites." She spoke softly her skin tinted red with her blush.

"But you know we're not infected, we've been with you for over 24 hours," Carlisle argued

"I know but this is our standard procedure for people who have spent time on the other side of the fence, no exceptions when it come to new arrivals," She said apologetically

"Do you have to go through decon?" I asked hesitantly

"No, but I'm the only exemption." She said nonchalantly

"Why?" I asked again

"Because I'm a founding member of the phoenix compound and everyone knows what I'd do if I got bit," she said softly

"And what's that?" Esme asked haughtily

"I keep one extra bullet for my revolver in my boot at all times," She reached in her boot and produced the small metal slug in the palm of her hand. "It's my emergency backup plan for when things go wrong," she spoke calmly before placing it back in her boot. I swallowed hard trying to erase the image of Bella bleeding; placing her gun in her mouth with her eyes squeezed shut. "Like I said I'm sorry for the humiliation but it's the only way," With that she stepped inside and we followed. Inside the door was a long hallway with tiled floors and more doors along the wall. She stopped at the first door and knocked gently before it sprung open exposing a short woman with graying hair pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head.

"Grace runs lead on our decon and quarantine," Bella said before motioning towards us "Grace, this is Carlisle, Esme, and Edward Cullen. I don't think they are infected but I knew you would want to take a look yourself."

"Thank you Bella, it's good to see you made it back with only a few battle wounds," Grace said sarcastically as she picked up Bella's injured arm and eyed the bruise on her head warily, she shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh before turning towards us. "It's nice to meet you all. It looks like Bella did a better job taking care of you folks than herself, as usual." Grace smiled at us.

"Oh come on Grace, I'm fine." Bella sighed but there was still humor in her voice. "Grace was an emergency room nurse before all of this started. Grace, Carlisle was a doctor." Bella said waving her hand in between them.

"What kind of doctor?" Grace asked her face full of hope.

"I'm a surgeon." Carlisle said with a smile

"Oh," she said as her face fell before brightening up again "Sorry I don't mean to be dismissive but I keep hoping we'll run into an epidemiologist who will find a cure for this plague." She said wistfully

"It's quite alright Grace, I imagine there isn't much use for a surgeon anymore," he said softly

"Ok, folks I'm gonna leave you in Grace's capable hands but I'll be waiting for you on the other side," Bella announced before turning away from us. I found it shockingly hard to watch her walk away, but I was pulled away from my thoughts by Grace's soft voice calling me back. She smiled at me knowingly before she turned and walked inside motioning for us to follow. Once we walked inside what looked like her office she motioned to some chairs across the room and we sat as she stood in front of us.

"Well, Carlisle, Esme, Edward," she said holding our gazes as she spoke each of our names "I'm the official welcome committee to the Pheonix Compound," she clapped her hands together with a smile. "I'm going to need you all to strip now."


End file.
